1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector, and particularly to a card connector having an improved card ejecting mechanism driven by a memory alloy wire.
2. The Prior Art
A card ejecting mechanism driven by a memory alloy wire to eject an electronic card inserted into a card connector has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-236203. Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 of the present application which are correspondent to FIGS. 3, 16, 17 and 5 of the Publication, a card connector has a card ejecting mechanism 9. The mechanism 9 has a drawer plate 92 and a card ejecting plate 90 connected together by a rivet 95. The drawer plate 92 has a right end pulled by a tension spring S1. The card ejecting plate 90 has a left end pulled by a compression tension S2. Particularly referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, when an electronic card 8 is inserted into the connector to reach its final position, the two plates 90, 92 are fixed in position by a front edge of a wing 68 of the card ejecting plate 90 engaging with a stop 93 of the connector. A wedge 94 having an inclined bottom face 941 is attached to a memory alloy wire 91. By the provision of the wedge 94 and the nature of the memory alloy wire 91 which retracts when applied with an electrical current, the engagement between the wing 68 and the stop 93 can be released to cause the card ejecting plate 90 to pivot and eject the inserted card 8, as explained below.
Referring to FIG. 2, the card ejecting plate 90 is at an upper position close to the drawer plate 92. When the wire 91 is applied with an electrical current to retract, as shown in FIG. 3, the wedge 94 moves toward the card ejecting plate 90 and the inclined face 941 pushes the wing 68 downward to cause it to disengage from the stop 93. Thus, the card ejecting plate 90 and the drawer plate 92 are free to pivot by the pulling force of the tension spring S1 to a position as shown in FIG. 4, in which the card 8 is ejected form the connector.
With the design of the prior art, a period of 6-8 seconds must elapse after the electrical current applied to the wire 91 is removed therefrom for the memory wire 91 to resume its original length. A card can be then successively inserted into the connector. However, such a waiting period is not favorable for achieving uninterrupted operation.
Hence, an improved card ejecting mechanism driven by a memory alloy wire is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of the current card ejecting mechanism.